Like I said previously, everyone should learn with a manual when learning to drive. If they don't, its pretty bad of the driving company you were with to be honest, as anyone I'm guessing can drive an Auto, but it takes work to learn a manual.

are you going to be stuck in traffic a lot? as long as you're not bumper to bumper daily it won't get annoying. the only thing that is tough is when you're with a girl and she wants to "hold your hand, or go down ;-)) and you have to shift. but other than that manual all the way.

yeah i say get the mazdaspeed 3 also, that things fast BUT only the speed 3 because i drove the mazda 3 and that car was soooooooooo slow like 0-60 time was like 9 seconds or something haha. i love stick shift when im getting on the freeway, when theres 2 lanes to get on and theres a car in front of me, WEEE haha i just floor it redline every gear and get to like 90-100 on the on-ramp! and yes like kostonbleeds said, if you have a gf, dont get a stick shift, they always wanna hld ure hand and you have to downshift and all that. (same with going down on ya! lol =\)

Yeah what David said. I'm going to end this discussion with a super epic informative post lol

Manual - if you can drive one or learn how to drive one, and don't mind changing gears, get one. It's much more fun and offers a substantial amount of control compared to an auto. Pretty much the only choice if you're racing circuits, which I know most of you don't do but w/e (I race and I use an auto just because that's what I have) Maintenance isn't really that bad in comparison to autos, as autos need servicing too, they can sometimes be pretty complicated (you need special pumps to service it with, so no chance of DIY), and they have more parts to go wrong haha. They have a bunch of clutches and newer transmissions are all electronic which means they have a bunch of solenoids - one of mine broke and I had to fix it at 60,000 miles. Fortunately the Focus auto transmission is heaven to work on, fixed it up in the autozone parking lot for $500 and a few hours under the car, and that was a racing part! So... instead of all that, with manuals you basically have 1 clutch and your master cylinder, and gear oil/trans fluid. If you are brave you can tackle repairing that.

Anyway I'm rambling, on to autos...

If you hate shifting or live in an area with bad traffic, go for it. Also useful if you plan on doing one of the following in the car while driving:
Talking on a cell phone
Eating
Drinking
Eating and drinking
Eating and drinking and talking on the cellphone
Reading
Playing Game Boy
Racing your 6-second quarter mile car
Or bracket racing in general

A good compromise is a shiftronic, sport shift, whatever you want to call it auto-manual hybrid. If you don't mind a harsh ride you can get one and tune the transmission parameters in the ECU and change out the valve body to something a little stronger and shift faster than you can blink. Pretty fun, but offers less feel and control than an actual clutch. Some of them use paddle shifters, which is good because you can keep both hands on the wheel in situations where you need that. I'd say get one of these if you worry about heavy traffic and aren't concerned much about how sporty your daily drive is, but would like to have fun every once in a while.